The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-30
Vague Fears of Republicans.

| lengthy article concerning Gov. FORAKER,
! of Ohio. for his folly, bordering on idiocy,
| in indulging in offensive language at
Wheeling, w. Va, the other day, says:
There are, of course, many Republicans,
! perhaps majority of the whole party, who
honestly and fevently believe that the
! country is in danger Of some terrible in
! jury from the South Their belief is not
the less fervent because the injury they
apprehend is vague"
Can it be possible that there are any in
tefigent Republicans who apprehend injury
to the country from the South We have
never thought so, but when an influential
journal like the New York Times says there
are, and expresses the opinion that perhaps
a majority of the Republican party are dis
turbed by an indefnable and indescribabe
apprehension of danger from the South, it
is certainly time to inquire whether there is
any foundation for such an apprehension.
We have all along been under the impress
sion that the attacks of the
Forakers, Tuttles and Fairchilds upon the
South were due to hatred, rather than fear,
of the South and that they hoped by their
course to hold their party together by
arousing bitter sectional feelings We never
for a moment had SO low an opinion of the
intelligence of the Republicans as to think
that their hostility to the South was based
upon fear.
When Mr.. Cleveland was elected the ne
groes throughout the South thought that
some great calamity was about to overtake
them, and in localities they talked over in
whispers the change that was about to take
place in the control of the government, but
their fears We're easily accounted for.
They were ignorant, and had been taught
for years by Republican emissaries that the
triumph of the Democratic party meant
their return to slavery. But ignorant as
they were, and, therefore, having but linn
tied means for obtaining correct informa-
ton, it was not long before they
understood, and accepted the tru tn. No
where now among the colored people of the
South is there belief that the ascendancy
of the Democratic party threatens them
with harm. Indeed, within few months
after Mr.. Cleveland's inauguration their ap-
prehension of danger disappeared. And yet
the colored people had just as much reason
to apprehend danger to themselves from
Mr.. Cleveland's election as the Republican
party has TO apprehend danger to the coun-
try from the South. How is it then that the
comparatively ignorant colored people were
able to get rid of their fears so quietly,
while the Republicans, assuming that what
the New York Times says is correct, have
not been able to get rid of theirs in twenty
years?
But where is the evidence of the appre-
ension of the Republicans! They are
anxious to sell goods to Southern mer-
chants on credit, and they are investing
millions of dollars annually in Southern
enterprises As far as all business matters
are concerned they apparently regard the
South as being as much interested in and
as DESTROYS of, maintaining the integrity of
the whole country as any other section of
it is.
Is there anything in the attitude of the
South, or in the sentiments expressed by the
Southern people, calculated to alarm Re
publicanss If there is. what is it! Even
Gov Foraker would be at loss to specify
anything that fills his mind, or that of any
other Republican, with alarm.
No, the Republicans are not apprehensive
that the South threatens the country with
danger, but they are apprehensive that on
account of the South they will not get con-
troll of the government again. Some of
them are very bitter because the South will
not acknowledge that she was in the wrong
in the war between the States, and others
are hostile to the South because she is solid
ly Democratic, but those who do not know
that the South is sincerely devoted to the
interests of the whole country, and is proud
of its growth and prosperity, must be more
ignorant than the colored people who
thought the election OF Mr.. Cleveland meant
their return to slavery.